1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of replenishing a photographic processing apparatus with processing solution and, more particularly, is directed to a method of replenishing a photographic processing apparatus with processing solution for replenishing a processing tank with processing solution such as a water for preventing the concentration of the processing solution from being increased due to evaporation and a replenisher for preventing a processing solution from being lowered in performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional automatic developing apparatus automatically develops, bleaches, bleach-fixes, rinses with water and dries photosensitive materials such as photographic film or the like. In this conventional automatic developing apparatus, the temperature of each processing solution such as developing solution, bleaching solution, bleach-fixing solution or the like is controlled to a predetermined value, resulting in a large amount of evaporation of the processing solution, rendering the processing solution high in concentration. In order to solve this problem, at a predetermined timing (e.g., in the morning, when the automatic developing apparatus is turned on), each processing tank is replenished with water by a constant amount, and only when the liquid level of the processing tank is lowered beyond a predetermined value, the tank is replenished with water until the level of the processing liquid is restored to its original level.
On the other hand, the processing performance of the processing solution is lowered due to fatigue caused by the process of the photosensitive material, deterioration caused by oxygen in the air and so on. Accordingly, the processing solution is replenished with a replenisher for restoring the effectiveness of the processing solution.
However, the evaporation amount of the processing solution is changed with ambient temperature, the amount of the photosensitive material which has been processed, and so on. For this reason, in actual practice, when water of a constant amount is added to the processing solution, in fact an amount of water different from the actual evaporation amount is added to the processing liquid, thus making it difficult to keep the concentration of the processing solution constant. Further, in the above method in which the processing tank is replenished with water only when the liquid level of the processing tank is lowered, if the processing is replenished with a replenisher in response to the amount of the photosensitive material which has been processed, the replenishment of water cannot be corrected in correspondence with the amount of evaporation which has occurred. Therefore, it becomes difficult to keep the concentration of the processing solution constant.